The Windows Ink revolution began with the Anniversary Update back in August – that’s also when the Maps app initially gained support for Windows Ink; Windows 10 is meant to work on a variety of devices – a whole bunch of them, being equipped with touchscreens.

On touch screen devices, users have always been able to pinch-to-zoom or perform various other intuitive gestures that everyone has gotten used to – with the Windows Ink support introduced in Anniversary Update, users have even been able to draw on the map with a Surface Pen as if it was paper.

For those not on touch screen devices – Windows Ink still works, albeit as an inferior experience. A mouse is not a replacement for a finger.

The Pen brings a more natural form of interaction to touch devices – a pen, contrary to popular belief, is unlike a stylus. The Maps app have let users annotate, and write details on top of a map (and then share said map), and while that’s all great, there’s room for more.

Today, the Maps app is updating, to add more.

The Directions

The Maps app will now let you draw on the map with a pen – and then measure the distance as you trace the route.

There’s also a new ruler tool, if you would like to draw straight lines – you can rotate it and do everything you could do with a real ruler.

You can also draw a line from your start point to the end point, and the Maps app will calculate a route between the two points – if you know where something is on the map, you don’t need to enter its address.

The Dial

The Surface Dial was announced last month at the Surface event, and while it’s built for use with the Surface Studio – it can also work with all the existing Surface devices.